Long time believer in Colt quality in AR15's since the 80's

Had a MKIV back in the day that was solid, and still have a 1982 Gold Cup that is really nice.
Promised myself that if 9mm GC NM's every came back into stock
would get one.

Got one thinking this would be something special I could pass onto my son one day.

Picked it up from the FFL yesterday and was excited to see how nice it looked. Everyone at the shop
was swooning over it.

Then I got it home....and took a closer look.

Aside from the bluing and the stocks, the rest of the pistol is just awful. Not one metal piece's edge was
cleaned up before being finished. There are super sharp cut your finger parts, or rough edges on the trigger, hammer, ejection port, magwell.
And the trigger looks like a high school project gone bad, its two different colors on each side and poorly finished, it would get
zero stars on any review and most likely thrown out as trash

But the real disappointment is the absolutely awful 10+ pound trigger.
It feels like a Browning Hi Power with the mag safety still installed!

How could Colt let something like this out the door? I bought a Tisas 1911 a month ago for $329 and it is a
VASTLY superior product in every way. To pay almost $1000 more and get this? Honestly I feel ripped off.

Can I return this to Colt and get my money back, or what to do? Never been in a position like this.
This is sadly, hands down the most disappointing new pistol I have ever bought.

Call or write to Colt, and outline everything you are not happy with. See if they will run the pistol through their custom shop to address all your issues. Unfortunately Colt guns have become a bit of a gamble when buying without trying. The last 2 new Colt combat pistols I bought, 1 in 9mm and 1 in 45acp, I had to replace their dual recoil spring setup with the proper weight Wolfe spring and standard recoil spring guide in order to get either of them to feed and eject properly.

Just hearsay on my part, but after talking to members of my gun club, I was told that each Gold Cup used to be thoroughly tested before ever let go.  In recent years, the buyer became the tester.  It was cheaper for them to fix a sent back gun than to keep the people needed to make sure they are perfect before being sent out.

Seems like a pure example of living off a reputation.

I bought a stainless Gold Cup seven years ago, it is really nice, the problems might be more recent.
Of course my Wilson is much higher quality, but ya gotta pay for that.

I’m a long time Colt enthusiast but 2 out of the last 3 I bought had sloppy QC. the 1st was a 6940 that had the unevenly hogged out with what looked like a rotary tool and a slightly canted front site. Colt rebarreled but took 4mo. My 2016 6944 is a much nicer AR. the other was a 6” anaconda. Again canted bbl with the rear sight pegged left and chafing marks in the bore. Tried to send it back to get inspected, but the colt rep that was supposed to set up a return but did. After the 3rd time calling I give up. The 3rd was an absolutely perfect King Cobra. I’d love to have a new gold cup but I’m not buying anymore Colt until they get their shit together.

At this point, since '08 for me, after my experiences with Colt 1911s: I'm inclined only to buy CCS (Colt Custom Shop) pistols for all of the reasons you have stated.

Yes, 'Colt makes a great 1911', their production guns are built through bare minimum assembly work at 'union wages'. This is evident by your example. Nevertheless, these pistols usually run great, they can have loose slide to frame, grip safety & mushy thumb safety fitting. Accuracy can be exceptional to mediocre.

I have a Wiley Clapp SS Commander  'Special Edition' with all the sharp edges. It originally came from the factory with the wrong TALO specified barrel. I sent it back. Colt sent it back, they put the wrong barrel in it again. Then finally,  they sent a correct drop in NM (you read that right, a drop in NM) barrel for it. Customer service did respond and correct their union assemblers mistake twice. I was without my gun for awhile.

I've owned nearly a dozen Colt 1911s. In comparison, from what I've seen, the quality in their standard production guns do not hold up to some other 1911 manufacturers.

CCS only for me going forward.

Eta: strictly opinion piece from a 'tradesman' craftsman perspective.
IMHO our country, its manufacturing, is getting screwed over partly mostly due to organized labor unions. Now, it is acceptable practice for all standards to be lowered in order to bump the union worker pay check and still be profitable.

Don't believe the Communist propaganda or be a brain washed pathetic greedy little people for a raise. However, I do realize it is a way of life for a lot of people (only you can fix this).

A meritocracy is the only way going forward to change this.